Hi everyone. I'm a hobbyist, and I do 3D art, or at least I try to. But there's a glaringly obvious error in my work and that's my lack of drawing ability, so I've decided to dedicate 2 hours a day until my course starts (after that I'll just put in whatever time I can) and really try to improve my drawing.

I made this thread so I'll stick to it, and so people can help me improve, and so I can look back over the weeks/months (hopefully) and see my improvements.

I'm guilty of having almost never drawn before at all. I picked up the Loomis books, but haven't had much of a chance to go through them, I had a quick few page read of fun with a pencil and figure drawing for all it's worth.

I apologize for the quality of these images, they are taken with a webcam, as I don't have access to a scanner.

I'm posting here because I'd like people to tell me what I can do to improve. Thank you all for your time.

First picture is from when I went to the park earlier today and drew a statue, second is from fun with a pencil.

Note: I have no delusions, they're awful.

http://i50.tinypic.com/2cna6tc.jpg

http://i50.tinypic.com/21brxu8.jpg

JaredTaylor

01 January 2010, 09:38 PM

http://i48.tinypic.com/34r6txk.jpg

JaredTaylor

01 January 2010, 08:55 AM

http://i45.tinypic.com/a9nx2p.jpg

NR43

02 February 2010, 05:29 PM

Hi
Great to hear you are starting to draw.
Also, Loomis' books are a great resource. Have you actually read them?
Do yourself a favour and read what he has to say first.
If you don't read the text and just draw from the books, you will make progress a lot slower than you'll expect. If you read them first and then practice, keeping Mr Loomis' words of wisdom in mind, you'll learn a lot quicker than you'd expect.
Believe me, I found that out the hard way ;)

JaredTaylor

02 February 2010, 03:57 AM

Hey, thanks for the response :)

Yea, I read Loomis' books, every word -- haven't gotten very far though. School just started, we do life drawing there thankfully. I didn't understand perspective drawing one bit, I understood the concept just not how to actually do it.

I've only gone part way into 'figure drawing for all it's worth'.

With school starting I haven't been able to update this thread much, but with the first weekend off and a new intuos4, I had to do some drawing, here's what I did... most of it is based on concept art stored in my art folder, none are my own original concepts.

http://i46.tinypic.com/28r2rsl.jpg

Edit: Just saw your portfolio, your life drawings are great :)

NR43

02 February 2010, 09:13 AM

In "Successful drawing", Loomis talks about perspective elaborately (50 pages).
Study that part first if you feel unsecure about it. Perspective applies to everything so there's no way around it. Don't expect to grasp everything about perspective in a matter of a couple of hours, but study it as intense as you can during several weeks. When I first started, I spent more than 2 months drawing boxes vases chairs etc, focusing on nothing but perspective. Don't concentrate on shading/rendering forms yet, but use lines only. You can worry about light and shadow later.

Draw simple forms from life as much as you can during these first weeks with pencil or ballpen. Cardboard boxes, vases, chairs, couches, houses etc. Drawing from pictures is ok but to really understand perspective, you have to learn how to actually make the transfer from the real 3D world onto a 2D paper. When you draw from a photograph, that transfer has already been made for you.
Ask questions like where is the horizon? how's this horizon related to the eyelevel? where are the VP's? What about elements in the foreground compared to the background? How can I increase an illusion of depth? Are there patterns I can use?

Post your studies and findings here if you like, it will be interesting to follow your progress, and you may get answers to some questions here if people see you are determined to improve.

Have fun!
Looking forward to see more...

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